The Oscars

airboy · March 06, 2018, 11:35:44 PM

I've never watched the Oscars.
Don't ever plan to watch the Oscars.
Don't even understand why anyone else would want to watch the Oscars.

But if you enjoy it, watch away.

Sir Slash · March 07, 2018, 12:18:48 AM

The first time I watched "Moon" I thought it was about Kim Kardashian. That one was, "Full Moon".

airboy · March 08, 2018, 07:15:07 AM

From PJ Media about the tanking Oscars ratings:

"Hollywood's biggest night of the year turned into one of the smallest as viewers refused to watch a conga line of virtue-signaling celebrities preen about politics."

JudgeDredd · March 08, 2018, 08:02:56 AM

Quote from: BanzaiCat on March 06, 2018, 01:21:28 PM
Zero interest in ever watching the Oscars. Didn't even know it was on until the next morning. Could do completely without their politics and whinging and self-masterbatory congratulations to each other. Ugh.

I like 'em as actors, producers, directors...but politics...I watch them for their acting chops, not their politics.

They're just people - and as such will have some sort of political view.

Whilst some people argue they should STFU and not give those political views - abusing their "priviledged" position so to speak - there are others (of which I'm one) who think they have a DUTY to use their position to provide an understanding of what's going on.

They spout no more shite or no worse shite than what you read in the papers and on the news - but those mediums are allowed to continue.

As with anything - hearing what they have to say should be part of the information garnered. Taking them as gospel (like taking the papers as gospel or the news) is bound to misinform!

JudgeDredd · March 08, 2018, 08:03:25 AM

Quote from: mirth on March 06, 2018, 11:28:55 PM
Quote from: jamus34 on March 06, 2018, 10:56:51 PM
Self-absorption at it's finest.

That image is unreadable

airboy · March 08, 2018, 08:49:33 AM

Quote from: JudgeDredd on March 08, 2018, 08:02:56 AM
Quote from: BanzaiCat on March 06, 2018, 01:21:28 PM
Zero interest in ever watching the Oscars. Didn't even know it was on until the next morning. Could do completely without their politics and whinging and self-masterbatory congratulations to each other. Ugh.

I like 'em as actors, producers, directors...but politics...I watch them for their acting chops, not their politics.
They're just people - and as such will have some sort of political view.

Whilst some people argue they should STFU and not give those political views - abusing their "priviledged" position so to speak - there are others (of which I'm one) who think they have a DUTY to use their position to provide an understanding of what's going on.

They spout no more shite or no worse shite than what you read in the papers and on the news - but those mediums are allowed to continue.

As with anything - hearing what they have to say should be part of the information garnered. Taking them as gospel (like taking the papers as gospel or the news) is bound to misinform!

I disagree. I watch movies for the movie. I go to concerts for the music. I go to sporting events for the sporting event.

I don't watch movies, go to concerts, or go to sporting events to be lectured to about politics.

Awards shows are different from the actual event, but when the show veers away from the topic of the awards themselves (movies, sports or whatever) then the event irritates many viewers of the awards show. As a result, most awards shows have been hemorrhaging audience members as they increasingly get off topic.

Spout off on your own time, not when you have a captured audience interested in a different topic.

JudgeDredd · March 08, 2018, 09:42:43 AM

Movies have been full of political messaging since - forever

Are they haemorrhaging audiences? Or just the ones that don't agree with their particular view? For every person that stops following, say Meryll Streep, because of her political views and using her station to speak about those views, there's another person who will follow her and listen to what she has to say because - well, presumably, what she says strikes a chord.

Meryll Streep was just an example...I don't personally know what she stands for

And you see it differently to me - I don't see myself as being lectured. But that's cool. If we were all the same, it's be a drab old world

airboy · March 08, 2018, 03:15:02 PM

Oscars ratings have hemorrhaged badly. All awards shows have been tanking, but the Oscars are tanking among the hardest.

The ratings declines are greater than the declines for broadcast programs in general.

bayonetbrant · March 08, 2018, 03:45:52 PM

I've watched at least part of the Oscars every year for the past 20+ years. They were *far* more political in the late 90s during the Starr investigation.
Anyone *trying* to find something to bitch about during the broadcast will be able to. This year, if you treated the anti-sexism/sexual harassment statements as equivalent to a political statement, then sure, it was a political broadcast. However, if you think that giving women a platform to speak out against pervasive sexual harassment in their industry is a *negative* political statement, then we're nowhere near the same page.

Honestly, I think people have largely drawn their lives in the culture wars, and will find everything possible to denigrate the other side, while finding nothing on their own.

If you're going to blast Hollywood for taking a stand against sexism and harassment, but you're ok with a those-married president paying hush money to a printer star to cover up an affair, then you don't get to claim that everyone else is biased and partisan and you're just fine.

There are asshats in Hollywood. And Congress. And the media. And GrogHeads. Etc etc.

Steelgrave · March 08, 2018, 07:46:59 PM

Sigh....in half the threads you are melting down because everything is so much worse under Trump. In the other half, you're correcting others with tales of how things were the same or worse under Clinton, Bush, Obama, etc.....

mirth · March 08, 2018, 07:49:02 PM

Let me just say this, Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

bayonetbrant · March 08, 2018, 07:52:47 PM

Quote from: Steelgrave on March 08, 2018, 07:46:59 PM
Sigh....in half the threads you are melting down because everything is so much worse under Trump. In the other half, you're correcting others with tales of how things were the same or worse under Clinton, Bush, Obama, etc.....

At least I'm consistent - they all suck!

Arctic Blast · March 08, 2018, 10:24:27 PM

I've never really watched the Oscars just because I've never really watched awards shows, period. But blah blah'ing about plummeting ratings and yet again just ignoring the fact that TV ratings are lower across the border as more and more people unplug from television networks.

Nefaro · March 09, 2018, 01:37:33 AM

If I wanted to watch a bunch of self-righteous televangelists haranguing me about my inherent sins, I would've done so when their moralizing predecessors were doing so back in the '80s.

>:D

BanzaiCat · March 09, 2018, 06:59:13 AM

This isn't RP&FW, so political discussions should remain there. This could easily slide into that realm but we should try to avoid that here in Music, TV, Movies.

The Oscars, as it stands, bores me to tears and tends to highlight people I just simply cannot stand. Some of them, like Meryl Streep, I think is a fantastic actor. There's some people that get in front of a camera and they're just pure magic, but when the cameras are off, they're detestable human beings. That's my opinion of course; you all's may vary, and that's absolutely fine. I still love most of you. :hug:

I will say, though, JD, you make some valid points. My dislike of the Oscars started some time ago though when they started turning an award ceremony that can take all of 15 minutes into a five-hour marathon loaded with commercials and, more and more lately, politicized statements. That's their prerogative of course; as with ANYTHING that's broadcast, if you don't like it, tune in to something else, or better yet just shut it off entirely.